New York Crime

Daniel McGowan: The FBI's Least Wanted

He did his time for burning down two Oregon lumber mills, but he's not exactly a free man

Despite State Ban, Federal Inmate Ronell Wilson Is Sent to Death Row

Queens MS-13 Gang Leader Gets 30-Year Prison Sentence

The leader of an MS-13 chapter in Queens was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in prison. Hector Aleman Lemos, 32, had been accused of two homicides, including the shooting of a 13-year-old boy. He pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy and racketeering charges in March. "Lemos spread death and destruc ... More >>

A Drug Dealer Nicknamed "Nugget" Is Sentenced in Six-County-Wide Oxycodone Drug Ring

The tide of prescription drug abuse across the country might start to ebb now that law enforcement officials know what to look for. Yesterday the New York State Attorney General's office announced the sentencing of Bronx resident John "Nugget" Bland, 49, kingpin of an oxycodone drug ring that reache ... More >>

Ronald Bozeman, Wrongly Arrested and Jailed for a Year, Sues

A man who spent a year in jail before robbery and kidnapping charges were tossed out of court is suing the New York City Police Department and the city for "generating false evidence and ignoring evidence of his innocence," court records show.

Program Launches Pet-Friendly Housing for NYC Survivors of Domestic Abuse

Humans aren't the only survivors of domestic abuse. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 71 percent of female pet-owners who sought shelter from abusive homes reported that their abuser had also hurt, maimed, killed, or threatened family animals. That's part of the reason ... More >>

Jesse Friedman Spent 13 Years in Prison as a Notorious Child Rapist -- He May Soon Get an Apology

Uncapturing the Friedmans

New Numbers on Domestic Violence-Related Murders in New York

At the end of last year, city officials announced that New York saw the lowest number of murder victims in 2012 in over 50 years. A new report by the NYPD provides the data behind those rates and a visual analysis of the 419 victims, as well as the 290 suspects identified in their murders. Among the ... More >>

Why the Police in Michael Premo's Occupy Wall Street Trial Are Unlikely To Face Perjury Charges

Many of the readers who commented on last week's story about Michael Premo, the Occupy Wall Street protester who beat his criminal charges last week thanks to video evidence, wanted to know: Would the police officer whose testimony was contradicted by the video face any consequences? Would he be cha ... More >>

Even A Blizzard Didn't Stop A Ton Of Violence From Happening This Weekend

Nemo was able to shut down power, the Long Island Expressway and most of the news over the weekend. But, somehow, it apparently couldn't prevent the unfortunate plague of crime in New York City. The first shooting victim came Friday night during the apex of the snowstorm. At a baby shower up on Eas ... More >>

9 People Were Non-Fatally Shot While You Were Stumbling Home On New Year's

As we know, New Year's Eve brings out the worst in people. An hyped-up party atmosphere mixed with thousands of people mixed with alcohol will produce that blowback; on my walk from the Flatiron District to the East Village at around 2am, I witnessed two huge fights, five ambulances and a streaker p ... More >>

"Krills," "Yams," and "Grizz": Decoding NYC Gangsters' Facebook Faux-Pas

In October, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly publicly announced that he was doubling the size of the Department's Anti-Gang Unit and would be stepping up efforts to bust gangsters using social media websites like Facebook and Twitter -- where gangsters have recently taken their turf wars.New York City's ... More >>

Cops Go To Question Westchester Women-Slasher About Cold Case Murders; Find Woman's Body

What are the odds that when detectives go to question a parolee about two cold case murders they find another body in his house? In the case of Westchester killer Lucius Crawford -- who's already served prison time for stabbing six women -- the odds were apparently pretty good, because that's exactl ... More >>

'Killer' Nanny Yoselyn Ortega Hit With First-Degree Murder Charges

The Upper West Side nanny accused of brutally stabbing two children in her care has been formally indicted on first-degree murder charges -- a charge reserved for the state's most heinous criminals, including those who murder cops and judges.In addition to the two first-degree murder charges, 50-yea ... More >>

Former NYPD Officer Nicholas Mina Headed To The Hoosegow For Selling Guns To Drug Dealers

A former NYPD officer who pleaded guilty last month to charges that he stole several NYPD-issued firearms from fellow officers and sold them to a Queens drug kingpin was in court today, where he was sentenced to 15-and-a-half years in prison.Additionally, former Officer Nicholas Mina -- who claims h ... More >>

Country Club Sopranos

American banks are on a massive crime spree. Obama and Romney hope you won't notice.

Robbing the Same Bank Over and Over Whenever You Need Cash Is a Thing, Apparently

On Monday, we wrote an article about a Brooklyn bandit who has robbed the same Crown Heights Apple Bank three times in the past year and a half. We, for the record, were flabbergasted by the amount of chutzpah the guy had for returning to the scene of the crime where he ostensibly could have (should ... More >>

Nassau Police Officer Shot and Killed During Queens Traffic Stop; Second Homicide Also Linked to Suspect

A traffic stop in Queens led earlier today to the shooting deaths of a Nassau County Police Officer and a bystander. Authorities locked down eight public schools in a search for the suspect, which was still ongoing by late afternoon. The shooting took place on an entrance ramp onto the Cross Islan ... More >>

Duo Pulls off Robbery Almost Exactly the Way It's Done in the Movies, Then Decides to Run out with the Safe

NYPD say that yesterday, two robbers robbed a physician's office, because as everyone who has watched a good heist film knows, one guy isn't enough, and more than guarantees that someone's going to snitch. The robbery took place in the 43rd Precinct of the Bronx on 2029 Westchester Avenue (Manhatta ... More >>

Man Who Threatens Life of Two Pro-Life Advocates Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison

Yesterday, 51-year-old New York native Theodore Shulman was sentenced by Manhattan federal court to 41 months in prison for threatening the lives of two pro-life advocates online after pleading guilty in May. It all started in January 2010, when Shulman, the son of feminist political activist Alix ... More >>

Man Who Threatens Life of Two Pro-Life Advocates Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison

Yesterday, 51-year-old New York native Theodore Shulman was sentenced by Manhattan federal court to 41 months in prison for threatening the lives of two pro-life advocates online after pleading guilty in May. It all started in January 2010, when Shulman, the son of feminist political activist Alix ... More >>

For the First Time in 20 Years, New York's Crime Rate Is on the Rise

While Bloomberg brags about his record, the city's crime rate is on the rise

Ray Kelly Goes Gangbusters: NYPD to Double Size of Anti-Gang Unit; Target Facebook Thugs

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly will give a speech later today in which he will announce his plans to double the size of the NYPD's anti-gang unit to combat the escalating problem of gang violence in the city.Kelly is calling the plan "Operation Crew Cut," which will bring the number of ... More >>

Syringe-Wielding Robbery Suspect Angel Cintron In Custody

Breathe easy, New York -- the man police suspect was using a hypodermic needle to rob people of their iPhones, iPods and other pricey electronics currently is in police custody.The NYPD says Angel Cintron was arrested this morning in Yonkers after he was identified over the weekend as the suspect in ... More >>

And Here's the Guy Who Has Been Robbing Everyone at Gunpoint

NYPD is now looking for a man who pulled off a quartet of robberies over the past 48 hours, including two on the same street 10 minutes apart. The suspect, who has only been unidentified from security cameras as a bald, black male, started his string of crime around 4:20 on Sunday morning, robbing ... More >>

Brooklyn Gets Federal Bucks to Combat Domestic Violence Against Immigrant Women

The Brooklyn District Attorney's office will get $900,000 to beef up its program aimed at supporting domestically abused immigrant women. The Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women awarded the grant to the borough in order to help Brooklyn better assist domestically abused women w ... More >>

Feds Nail Eleven MS-13 Thugs ("Bam-Bam" And "Scooby" Included)

Federal authorities have rounded up nearly a dozen members of the murderous MS-13 street gang, each of whom face multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, robbery and other acts of thuggery dating back to 2008, the United States Attorney's Office announced today.In a 50-count indictment, the feds ... More >>

Tunnel Burglar Hit With Whopping 28-Year Prison Sentence -- And He Didn't Even Kill Anyone

*UPDATE* We've compiled a list of what McAleese stole that would warrant such a lengthy prison sentence. Ribs and Saki are involved.When 43-year-old Shawn McAleese was tunneling his way into Manhattan businesses to steal stuff earlier this year, he probably didn't think he could potentially face mor ... More >>

Shawn McAleese Is Going To Prison For Roughly 30 Years For Stealing Ribs And Booze (And Thousands Of Dollars)

Since our prior post about Manhattan tunnel thief Shawn McAleese -- who just found out today that he'll likely be a guest of the state for longer than a convicted murderer -- we got our hands on the criminal complaint that details exactly what he stole to earn such a lengthy prison sentence.The thou ... More >>

New Evidence Emerges About Police Downgrading of Crimes

Accounts of police downgrading crime reports surfaced again on Sunday in a New York Times article, which compared descriptions of crimes in police reports versus the charges eventually brought by prosecutors. The article's author Joseph Goldstein examined more than 100 police reports, and found a n ... More >>

More Intimidating Robbery Weapon: Gun Or Herpes? Discuss

As a Bronx resident notes in an interview with a local TV station, "anything" could be found in a hypodermic needle, including "AIDS, herpes -- anything!" And nobody -- nobody -- wants either of those stigmatic/potentially deadly diseases.That said, a thief is using the threat of potential herpes to ... More >>

In Manhattan, Sexual Assault Is (Un)Officially A Worse Crime Than Murder

We hate to say it, but if you're planning on violently sexually assaulting another human being, you'd be better off murdering them first.Not that we condone violently sexually assaulting or murdering anyone, but in Manhattan, the punishment for murder is often less severe than the punishment for pre ... More >>

Facebook Leads To Fall Of Two Brooklyn Gangs; "Very Crispy Gangsters" Are Crispy No More

As it currently stands, the body count from the ongoing war between the "Rockstarz" and the "Very Crispy Gangsters," both thuggish Brooklyn street gangs, stands at three dead VCG members -- which prompted a member of the "Rockstarz" to post on Facebook that "Rockstarz are up 3-0."Unfortunately for t ... More >>

Here's A Fairly Horrifying Photo Of One Of The Stabbings At The West Indian Day Parade

The West Indian Day parade in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn has proven itself to be one of the more popular events in New York City at which to become a victim of violent crime -- and we've come across a pretty gruesome photo to illustrate that fact.Since 2003, the parade has been marred by ... More >>

Fight Turns Bloody at Bronx Playground

On July 22nd, paramedics arrived at the Half-Nelson Playground in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx at around 9pm, only to find a young 22-year-old man named Tashawn Murray covered in blood and sprawled out across the basketball court. Murray was rushed to a nearby hospital and declared d ... More >>

New Jersey Shooting Update: Suspect An Ex-Marine; Killed Two Before Turning Gun On Self

The suspect in this morning's mass-shooting at a New Jersey grocery store has been identified as an ex-Marine who's worked at the store for the last two weeks. Additionally, authorities say he shot two people before turning the gun on himself.Authorities say the suspect entered the Pathmark store in ... More >>

Levi Aron Sentenced To 40 Years To Life In Leiby Kletzky Killing

Levi Aron, the former hardware store clerk who pleaded guilty earlier this month to kidnapping and killing eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky last July, was sentenced today in Brooklyn court to a sentence of 40 years to life in prison. The sentence was in keeping with a plea deal Aron's lawyers had worke ... More >>

Ramadan And Bacon Don't Mix. But A Hate Crime?

Throwing uncooked bacon all over a field on Staten Island is a reckless waste of bacon. And it also might be a hate crime, authorities say, when the field is the site of a Muslim religious ceremony -- which it was.Police are investigating pieces of bacon being strewn about John D'Amato Field on New ... More >>

State Senator Malcolm Smith: An Illegal Gun Should Cost You 8 Years In Prison. About That...

As it currently stands, anyone caught with an illegal gun in New York is looking at a maximum of two years in prison. Two years, apparently, is chump change -- according to Democratic state Senator Malcolm Smith, anyway, who now wants to up the ante for those busted with less-than-legal firearms."We ... More >>

New York Civil Liberties Union Files Lawsuit Against NYPD Over "Wrongful Arrests and Excessive Force" In City Schools

It looks like it's no longer just Bronx parents asking the DOE and the NYPD: Why so many student arrests?Last month we attended a roundtable hosted by the New Settlement Parent Action Committee and other community organizers that brought together concerned Bronx parents, students and representatives ... More >>

Neo-Nazis Next Door? Here's a List of New York's Hate Groups

When details began emerging about the Oak Creek, Wis. massacre, reports indicated that the suspected shooter, Wade Michael Page, was a white supremacist and had played in a neo-Nazi band called "End Apathy." The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, had been keeping tabs on Page s ... More >>

New "Rape Cop" Arthur Roldan Just As Rape-y As Old "Rape Cop" (Allegedly)

As we reported yesterday, for the second time in less than a year, a New York City police officer is accused of committing a violent sexual attack on a woman. And if the allegations are true, the latest "Rape Cop" is just as much of a creep as the old "Rape Cop" -- who currently is serving a prison ... More >>

Dwaine Taylor, Ex-Rikers Inmate Sues, Claims 'The Program' Still Exists

Responding to a recent Voice article on violence in the jails, the city Correction Department had claimed that they had done away with "the program," in which correction officers on their own condoned or encouraged gang-affiliated inmates to beat up inmates to keep order. In 2008, 17-year-old Christ ... More >>

NYPD Detective Suspended After A Kidnapping Was Discovered in His Garage

This never looks good.Friday morning, a 25-year-old man was kidnapped at gunpoint in Cambria Heights, Queens, by two men who ambushed the poor guy in front of his home and proceeded to tie a t-shirt around his head with bounds around his wrist. The crooks took the hostage to a small garage in Spring ... More >>

Andrew Goodman, Perv Who Got Smooch-On-The-Wrist Plea Deal, Could Be Federally F**ked

At the sentencing hearing earlier this month for convicted Brooklyn pervert Andrew Goodman, the pederast was so happy about the wimpy sentence he was set to receive (thanks to a sweetheart plea deal from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office) that he used the court appearance to declare his undyin ... More >>

DEVELOPING: Aurora Police Venture Into Holmes' Booby-Trapped Apartment

As we all know by now, yesterday marked the largest mass shooting in America's history, as suspect James Holmes, who is now in police custody, gunned down a total of 71 people, leaving 12 dead and 59 injured at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado - a t ... More >>

To The Parents Of 3-Year-Old Robbed For $400 Chain: Yes, It Is Your Fault

A 3-year-old Brooklyn boy is apparently terrified to leave his house after a group of thugs robbed a $400 chain he was wearing while in the lobby of his apartment on Malcolm X Boulevard in Bed-Stuy late Tuesday night.If the New York Post won't just come out and say it, we will: his parents, Pedro He ... More >>

Racist Cop Michael Daragjati Sentenced to Nearly Five Years in Prison

Disgraced Staten Island cop Michael Daragjati, 32, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Friday, after a sentencing hearing filled with so much racist doublespeak that it would make any decent human being cringe. Daragjati was charged after being caught on a FBI wiretap bragging about how he had ... More >>

Michael "Rape Cop" Pena Pleads Guilty To Additional Charges; No Time Added To Extreme Life-Sentence

Michael "Rape Cop" Pena did something today that's somewhat admirable; rather than put his victim through the torture of another trial, he pleaded guilty to additional charges stemming from his attack on a 25-year-old teacher -- charges on which a jury deadlocked when he was convicted of three count ... More >>

"Dating Game" Serial Killer Rodney Alcala Pleads Not Guilty To Two New York Murders

A California serial killer -- who once appeared as "bachelor number one" on the 1970s dating show "Dating Game" -- was in a Manhattan courtroom this morning where he pleaded not guilty to all charges stemming from the murders of two women more than 30 years ago.In all, Rodney Alcala, 68, has been ch ... More >>